Israeli police baffled by local neo-Nazi ring

jerusalem (ap) | Israeli police have discovered a ring of about 20 local neo-Nazis, young emigrants from the former Soviet Union, but are uncertain how to proceed against them as Israel has no specific laws against supporting Nazi beliefs, the Israeli daily Maariv reported this week.

The paper said police stumbled across the group after detectives who recently arrested a 20-year-old soldier suspected of drug use found a swastika tattooed on his arm and a large cache of neo-Nazi material downloaded from the Internet.

Interrogation of the young man, from the West Bank settlement of Ariel, put police on the trail of others. West Bank police investigator Haim Fadlon told Maariv the men are suspected of taking part in anti-Semitic Internet chat rooms and performing secret ceremonies with swastika banners and other neo-Nazi regalia.

"We cannot disclose details of the inquiry, but it's chilling," Fadlon was quoted as saying. "It appears these are people living in this country who are talking among themselves about extermination of the Jews."